Software Verification Research Articles

Enhancing Software Quality through Early-Phase of Software Verification and Validation Techniques

Purpose: The core objectives of this conducted research were threefold: first, to assess whether early-phase verification and validation (V&V)techniques, encompassing software design review, code review, and inspection, significantly contribute to defect prevention throughout the software development process; second, to evaluate the impact of these techniques on the efficiency of software development in terms of time, cost, and resource allocation; and third, to conduct a comprehensive comparative analysis between early-phase verification and validation (V&V)techniques and traditional post-development testing regarding their effectiveness in defect prevention and software quality improvement.
 Methodology: Employing an experimental approach, this study conducted case studies within Tanzanian software development organizations. Data were meticulously gathered through surveys and interviews involving software professionals. Both quantitative and qualitative data were systematically analyzed to ensure data reliability and ethical considerations.
 Findings: The research findings indicate that early-phase verification and validation (V&V) techniques shine as powerful tools for defect prevention, leading to a substantial reduction in defect counts and elevating software quality metrics, such as reliability and user satisfaction. Notably, these techniques demonstrated a favorable impact on software development efficiency by shortening development cycles and curtailing costs. When compared to traditional post-development testing, early-phase verification and validation (V&V) techniques consistently outperformed in the realm of defect prevention and software quality enhancement.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study's outcomes underscore the transformative potential of early-phase verification &validation techniques, urging the software development industry to pivot from defect detection to defect prevention. The insights garnered here offer practical guidance for organizations aiming to streamline their software development processes, economize costs, and deliver top-notch software products that closely align with user expectations. While conducted in a Tanzanian context, these findings reverberate across the global software development landscape, underscoring the universal relevance of early-phase verification and validation (V&V) techniques as pivotal enablers of software quality assurance and operational efficiency.

Initial flight test verification of software and hardware in the loop simulations of the flight stabilization system

PurposeThis paper aims to present assessment of models and simulation results used in the development process of flight stabilisation system that uses trim tabs for PZL-130 Orlik turboprop military trainer aircraft. Flight test of the system allowed to compare software and hardware simulation results with real flight recordings.Design/methodology/approachProposed flight stabilisation system was developed using modern techniques of model-based design, automatic code generation, software and hardware in the loop testing. The project reached flight testing stage which allowed to gather data to verify models and simulation results and asses their quality.FindingsResults of the comparison showed that the trim tab actuator model used in simulation can be improved by adding play. This reduced the difference between simulation and real flight system output – actuator angle. The influence of airloads on the flying actuator angle compared to hardware in the loop simulation in lab is less than ± 0.6°.Originality/valueProposed flight stabilisation system that uses trim tabs has several benefits over classic automatic flight system in terms of weight, energy consumption and structure simplicity and does not need aircraft primary control modification. It was developed using modern techniques of model-based design, automatic code generation and hardware in the loop simulations.

Inference of Robust Reachability Constraints

Characterization of bugs and attack vectors is in many practical scenarios as important as their finding. Recently, Girol et. al. have introduced the concept of robust reachability, which ensures a perfect reproducibility of the reported violations by distinguishing inputs that are under the control of the attacker (controlled inputs) from those that are not (uncontrolled inputs), and proposed first automated analysis for it. While it is a step toward distinguishing severe bugs from benign ones, it fails for example to describe violations that are mostly reproducible, i.e., when triggering conditions are likely to happen, meaning that they happen for all uncontrolled inputs but a few corner cases. To address this issue, we propose to leverage theory-agnostic abduction techniques to generate constraints on the uncontrolled program inputs that ensure that a target property is robustly satisfied. Our proposal comes with an extension of robust reachability that is generic on the type of trace property and on the technology used to verify the properties. We show that our approach is complete w.r.t its inference language, and we additionally discuss strategies for the efficient exploration of the inference space. We demonstrate the feasibility of the method and its practical ability to refine the notion of robust reachability with an implementation that uses robust reachability oracles to generate constraints on standard benchmarks from software verification and security analysis. We illustrate the use of our implementation to a vulnerability characterization problem in the context of fault injection attacks. Our method overcomes a major limitation of the initial proposal of robust reachability, without complicating its definition. From a practical view, this is a step toward new verification tools that are able to characterize program violations through high-level feedback.

Parikh’s Theorem Made Symbolic

Parikh’s Theorem is a fundamental result in automata theory with numerous applications in computer science. These include software verification (e.g. infinite-state verification, string constraints, and theory of arrays), verification of cryptographic protocols (e.g. using Horn clauses modulo equational theories) and database querying (e.g. evaluating path-queries in graph databases), among others. Parikh’s Theorem states that the letter-counting abstraction of a language recognized by finite automata or context-free grammars is definable in Linear Integer Arithmetic (a.k.a. Presburger Arithmetic). In fact, there is a linear-time algorithm computing existential Presburger formulas capturing such abstractions, which enables an efficient analysis via SMT-solvers. Unfortunately, real-world applications typically require large alphabets (e.g. Unicode, containing a ‍million of characters) — which are well-known to be not amenable to explicit treatment of the alphabets — or even worse infinite alphabets. Symbolic automata have proven in the last decade to be an effective algorithmic framework for handling large finite or even infinite alphabets. A symbolic automaton employs an effective boolean algebra, which offers a symbolic representation of character sets (i.e. in terms of predicates) and often lends itself to an exponentially more succinct representation of a language. Instead of letter-counting, Parikh’s Theorem for symbolic automata amounts to counting the number of times different predicates are satisfied by an input sequence. Unfortunately, naively applying Parikh’s Theorem from classical automata theory to symbolic automata yields existential Presburger formulas of exponential size. In this paper, we provide a new construction for Parikh’s Theorem for symbolic automata and grammars, which avoids this exponential blowup: our algorithm computes an existential formula in polynomial-time over (quantifier-free) Presburger and the base theory. In fact, our algorithm extends to the model of parametric symbolic grammars, which are one of the most expressive models of languages over infinite alphabets. We have implemented our algorithm and show it can be used to solve string constraints that are difficult to solve by existing solvers.

Effects of Peer Teaching Method in Software Testing Course in Comparison with Traditional Teaching Method

This action research project incorporated a peer teaching model for creating an active learning environment for teaching the course “Software Verification, Validation, and Testing”. Topics covered in the course included an overview of software testing, software quality, types of software testing, test case design techniques, test documentation, software test frameworks; model-based testing, software verification, and validation. The research aimed to explore to what extent peer teaching would increase students’ learning motivation, and engagement, develop critical thinking skills, and their performance. The study was conducted for one semester and data were generated using questionnaires, test scores, and student activity records as instruments. The test score data is collected from 10 students taking the course. The data were analyzed using qualitative (textual data obtained from open-ended responses) and quantitative (numerical data from questionnaires, and test scores) methods. The result showed that the peer teaching approach has a positive effect on the attitudes of students toward software testing courses compared to lecture mode instruction.

Summary of the 5th International Workshop on Automated andverifiable Software sYstem DEvelopment (ASYDE)co-located with the 38th IEEE/ACM ASE 2023

Over the past three decades, automation in software development has gone mainstream. Software development teams strive to automate as much of the software development activities as possible, spanning requirements specification, system modeling, code generation, testing, deployment, verification, as well as release phases, project status reporting and system maintenance. Automation helps to reduce development time and cost, as well as to concentrate knowledge by bringing quality into every step of the development process. The Workshop on Automated and verifiable Software sYstem DEvelopment (ASYDE) provided a forum to share and discuss innovative contributions to research and practice related to novel software engineering approaches to automated and verifiable development of software systems. The 5th edition took place on September 11th, 2023, in Kirchberg, Luxembourg. Notably, this marked the inaugural co-location of ASYDE with the IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE).

Formula omitted]: A simplified and abstract multicore hardware model for large scale system software formal verification

This paper introduces SimplMM, a novel subsystem within the Certified Concurrent Abstraction Layers (CCAL) modular software verification framework, designed specifically for fine-grained concurrent software. SimplMM aims to provide a generic, practical, and realistic multicore machine model for verifying software within the CCAL framework.While formal multicore hardware semantics have seen extensive development, their integration with large-scale software verification has received limited attention. To address this gap, we propose a novel approach: a toolkit comprising a generic sequentially consistent multicore semantics, contextual refinement templates, and libraries. These components establish crucial connections between the machine model and verified program modules (layers) using CCAL. We demonstrate the practicality of our framework by successfully integrating it with existing large-scale proofs, specifically for CertiKOS running on top of the x86 hardware architecture.This research significantly advances the field of accurate and efficient concurrent software verification and development tools for multicore systems. Our provision of a practical and formal multicore machine model, seamlessly integrated within the CCAL framework, equips developers with a powerful toolkit for large-scale concurrent software verification. The effectiveness of our approach, validated through successful integration with existing large-scale proofs such as CertiKOS, establishes a robust foundation for the design and verification of concurrent software in multicore systems.

Formula omitted]: A template to build verified thread-local interfaces with software scheduler abstractions

This paper presents ThreadAbs, an extension of the layer-based software formal verification toolkit CCAL (Gu et al., 2018). ThreadAbs is specifically designed to provide better expressiveness and proof management for thread abstraction in multithreaded libraries. Thread abstraction isolates the behavior of each thread from others when providing a top-level formal specification for software. Compared to the original CCAL, ThreadAbs offers significant improvements in this regard.CCAL is a verification framework that enables a layered approach to building certified software, as demonstrated by multiple examples (Gu et al. 2016; Li et al. 2021; Shin et al. 2019). Obviously, its main targets usually include multithread libraries, which support significant improvement in the utilization and isolation of system resources. However, it poses new challenges for formal verification. Firstly, it requires a sudden change in the granularity of concurrency during the implementation and verification of the target software. Typically, systems are associated with software schedulers that are built on top of several underlying components in the system (e.g., thread spawn, yield, sleep, and wake-up). Due to the software scheduler, these systems can be divided into low-level components consisting of modules that the software scheduler depends on (e.g., allocators for shared resources and scheduling queues) and high-level components that use software schedulers (e.g., condition variables, semaphores, and IPCs). Therefore, software formal verification on those systems has to provide proper method to deal with those distinct features, which is usually abstracting other threads’ behavior as much as possible to provide an independent thread model and its formal specification. Secondly, it requires handling side effects from other threads, such as dynamic resource allocation from parents with proper isolation of all threads from each other.CCAL has limited support for two crucial aspects of formal verification in multithreaded systems. Firstly, its previous thread abstraction method does not handle the side effects caused by a parent thread during dynamic initial state allocation properly. Secondly, the proofs produced by CCAL are tied to CertiKOS, which makes it challenging to use them for similar proofs that use CCAL as their verification toolkit. To address these issues, we introduce ThreadAbs, a new mechanized methodology that provides proper thread abstraction to reason about multithreaded programs in conjunction with CCAL. We also extend the previous CertiKOS proof with ThreadAbs to demonstrate its usability and expressiveness.

Algebraic School of V.M. Glushkov and Insertion Modeling

The Algebraic School of Viktor Mykhailovych Glushkov already has several generations of scientists, most of whom have already identified and are developing their own scientific directions. This school, started at the Institute of Cybernetics, was shaped by research that had the significance of inventions at the level of world science and the computer industry and in many ways predicted their further development. The work considers the formation of the paradigm of insertion modeling as a generalization of the main achievements of the Glushkov school, starting from the theory of automata and up to modern computer algebra systems. The main concepts from which insertion modeling was formed are considered, namely, symbolic computations, which were implemented even in the first personal machine of the MIR series. It is also the theory of agents and environments, parallel computing, and methods of artificial intelligence, developed at the Institute of Cybernetics, in the 60s and 70s. Numerous deployments of insertion modeling methods in cyber security, research in natural sciences, blockchain technology, in verification and testing of software and hardware, have shown the practicality and value of theoretical research conducted by followers of the Glushkov school. Keywords: symbolic computation, algebraic modeling, insertional modeling.

The identification of regulatory ceRNA network involved in Drosophila Toll immune responses

Non-coding RNAs play important roles in the innate immunity of Drosophila, with various lncRNAs and miRNAs identified to maintain Drosophila innate immune homeostasis by regulating protein functions. However, it remains unclear whether interactions between lncRNAs and miRNAs give rise to a ceRNA network. In our previous study, we observed the highest differential expression levels of lncRNA-CR11538, lncRNA-CR33942, and lncRNA-CR46018 in wild-type flies after Gram-positive bacterial infection, prompting us to investigate their role in the regulation of Drosophila Toll immune response through RNA-seq analysis. Herein, our comprehensive bioinformatics analysis revealed that lncRNA-CR11538, lncRNA-CR33942, and lncRNA-CR46018 are involved in defense mechanisms and stimulus response. Moreover, lncRNA-CR11538 and lncRNA-CR46018 can also participate in the metabolic recovery processes following Gram-positive bacterial infection. Subsequently, we employed GSEA screening and RT-qPCR to identify seven miRNAs (miR-957, miR-1015, miR-982, miR-993, miR-1007, miR-193, and miR-978) that may be regulated by these three lncRNAs. Furthermore, we predicted the potential target genes in the Toll signaling pathway for these miRNAs and their interaction with the three lncRNAs using TargetScan and miRanda software and preliminary verification. As a result, we established a potential ceRNA regulatory network for Toll immune responses in Drosophila, comprising three lncRNAs and seven miRNAs. This study provides evidence of a ceRNA regulatory network in Drosophila Toll immune responses and offers novel insights into understanding the regulatory networks involved in the innate immunity of other animals.

C2AADL_Reverse: A Model-Driven Reverse Engineering Approach for Development and Verification of Safety-Critical Software

The safety-critical system communities have been struggling to manage and maintain their legacy software systems because upgrading such systems has been a complex challenge. To overcome or reduce this problem, reverse engineering has been increasingly used in safety-critical systems. This paper proposes C2AADL_Reverse, a model-driven reverse engineering approach for safety-critical software development and verification. C2AADL_Reverse takes multi-task C source code as input, and generates AADL (Architecture Analysis and Design Language) model of the legacy software systems. Compared with the existing works, this paper considers more reversed construction including AADL component structure, behavior, and multi-threaded run-time information. Moreover, two types of activities are proposed to ensure the correctness of C2AADL_Reverse. First, it is necessary to validate the reverse engineering process. Second, the generated AADL models should conform to desired critical properties. We propose the verification of the reverse-engineered AADL model by using UPPAAL to establish component-level properties and the Assume Guarantee REasoning Environment (AGREE) to perform compositional verification of the architecture. This combination of verification tools allows us to iteratively explore design and verification of detailed behavioral models, and to scale formal analysis to large models. In addition, the prototype tool and the evaluation of C2AADL_Reverse using a real-world aerospace case study are presented.

A Study on the Relationship of Heat Exchanger Design Parameters with Water Lily Stem Profile by Robust Statistical Method

The study has successfully modeled and simulated a polymorphic tube based on the water lily stem using the robust statistical method and software. Taguchi analysis shows that the size factor E (Cross-section length of inner hole) with the effects values 39.89% has the most significant influence on the response temperature difference ((Δt) 0C). The size factor A (Peduncle diameter) has the most critical influence on the response pressure difference (ΔP (Pa)), with an effect value of 42.88%. The size factor C (Large inner hole diameter) with the significant effect value of 34.78% affects the response velocity difference (Δv (m/s)) the most. By ANOVA analysis, the results of response temperature difference analysis show that both the T-value and P-value of the size factor E (Cross-section length of inner hole) reach values that satisfy the setup requirements, with T-value reaching the most significant T-value 3.85 and the P-value 0.043 being smaller than the benchmark value 0.05, the final result indicated the size factor E (Cross-section length of inner hole) is the factor that has the most significant influence on the temperature difference of the model. For pressure difference, the results show that both the T-value and P-value of the size factor A (Peduncle diameter) reach values that satisfy the setup requirements, with the T-value reaching the largest T-value 12.19 and P-value 0.001 being smaller than the benchmark value of 0.05, the size factor A (Peduncle diameter) is the factor that has the most significant influence on the pressure difference of the model. For velocity difference, the results show that both the T-value and P-value of the size factor C (Large inner hole diameter) reach values that satisfy the set requirements, with the T-value reaching the largest T-value of 3.72 and the P-value 0.047 being smaller than the benchmark value 0.05, the size factor C (Large inner hole diameter) is the factor that has the most significant influence on the velocity difference of the model. Minitab software verification based on the Means graph drawn by Minitap17 software, the results show the best combination for response temperature difference is A3-B2-C1-D2-E2. Similarly, the best combination for response pressure and velocity differences is A2-B2-C3-D1-E1 and A2-B3-C2-D1-E3, respectively.

ART2Dose: A comprehensive dose verification platform for online adaptive radiotherapy.

Online adaptive radiotherapy (ART) involves the development of adaptable treatment plans that consider patient anatomical data obtained right prior to treatment administration, facilitated by cone-beam computed tomography guided adaptive radiotherapy (CTgART) and magnetic resonance image-guided adaptive radiotherapy (MRgART). To ensure accuracy of these adaptive plans, it is crucial to conduct calculation-based checks and independent verification of volumetric dose distribution, as measurement-based checks are not practical within online workflows. However, the absence of comprehensive, efficient, and highly integrated commercial software for secondary dose verification can impede the time-sensitive nature of online ART procedures. The main aim of this study is to introduce an efficient online quality assurance (QA) platform for online ART, and subsequently evaluate it on Ethos and Unity treatment delivery systems in our clinic. To enhance efficiency and ensure compliance with safety standards in online ART, ART2Dose, a secondary dose verification software, has been developed and integrated into our online QA workflow. This implementation spans all online ART treatments at our institution. The ART2Dose infrastructure comprises four key components: an SQLite database, a dose calculation server, a report generator, and a web portal. Through this infrastructure, file transfer, dose calculation, report generation, and report approval/archival are seamlessly managed, minimizing the need for user input when exporting RT DICOM files and approving the generated QA report. ART2Dose was compared with Mobius3D in pre-clinical evaluations on secondary dose verification for 40 adaptive plans. Additionally, a retrospective investigation was conducted utilizing 1302 CTgART fractions from ten treatment sites and 1278 MRgART fractions from seven treatment sites to evaluate the practical accuracy and efficiency of ART2Dose in routine clinical use. With dedicated infrastructure and an integrated workflow, ART2Dose achieved gamma passing rates that were comparable to or higher than those of Mobius3D. Additionally, it significantly reduced the time required to complete pre-treatment checks by 3-4 min for each plan. In the retrospective analysis of clinical CTgART and MRgART fractions, ART2Dose demonstrated average gamma passing rates of 99.61±0.83% and 97.75±2.54%, respectively, using the 3%/2mm criteria for region greater than 10% of prescription dose. The average calculation times for CTgART and MRgART were approximately 1 and 2 min, respectively. Overall, the streamlined implementation of ART2Dose notably enhances the online ART workflow, offering reliable and efficient online QA while reducing time pressure in the clinic and minimizing labor-intensive work.

Is it necessary to perform measurement-based patient-specific quality assurance for online adaptive radiotherapy with Elekta Unity MR-Linac?

This study aimed to investigate the necessity of measurement-based patient-specific quality assurance (PSQA) for online adaptive radiotherapy by analyzing measurement-based PSQA results and calculation-based 3D independent dose verification results with Elekta Unity MR-Linac. There are two workflows for Elekta Unity enabled in the treatment planning system: adapt to position (ATP) and adapt to shape (ATS). ATP plans are those which have relatively slighter shifts from reference plans by adjusting beam shapes or weights, whereas ATS plans are the new plans optimized from the beginning with probable re-contouring targets and organs-at-risk. PSQA gamma passing rates were measured using an MR-compatible ArcCHECK diode array for 78 reference plans and corresponding 208 adaptive plans (129 ATP plans and 79 ATS plans) of Elekta Unity. Subsequently, the relationships between ATP, or ATS plans and reference plans were evaluated separately. The Pearson's r correlation coefficients between ATP or ATS adaptive plans and corresponding reference plans were also characterized using regression analysis. Moreover, the Bland-Altman plot method was used to describe the agreement of PSQA results between ATP or ATS adaptive plans and reference plans. Additionally, Monte Carlo-based independent dose verification software ArcherQA was used to perform secondary dose check for adaptive plans. For ArcCHECK measurements, the average gamma passing rates (ArcCHECK vs. TPS) of PSQA (3%/2mm criterion) were 99.51%±0.88% and 99.43%±0.54% for ATP and ATS plans, respectively, which were higher than the corresponding reference plans 99.34%±1.04% (p<0.05) and 99.20%±0.71% (p<0.05), respectively. The Pearson's r correlation coefficients were 0.720 between ATP and reference plans and 0.300 between ATS and reference plans with ArcCHECK, respectively. Furthermore,>95% of data points of differences between both ATP and ATS plans and reference plans were within±2σ (standard deviation) of the mean difference between adaptive and reference plans with ArcCHECK measurements. With ArcherQA calculation, the average gamma passing rates (ArcherQA vs. TPS) were 98.23%±1.64% and 98.15%±1.07% for ATP and ATS adaptive plans, separately. It might be unnecessary to perform measurement-based PSQA for both ATP and ATS adaptive plans for Unity if the gamma passing rates of both measurements of corresponding reference plans and independent dose verification of adaptive plans have high gamma passing rates. Periodic machine QA and verification of adaptive plans were recommended to ensure treatment safety.

Verification and validation of embedded software in an automotive context: a systematic literature review

In automotive context, the embedded software Verification and Validation (V&amp;V) is always a critical step for each project that involves testing solutions for new function, system optimization and compliance with legal requirements. However, automotive software V&amp;V is laborious and time-consuming. Activities such as planning workshops at test tracks and public roads and functionality and durability tests require significant effort and robust coordination. The rigorous management and storage of test results are also a challenge. This review consolidates the state of the art on automotive software V&amp;V to realize the most common standards in the industry and understand current testing concepts. The consolidated knowledge will help in the future development of a flexible V&amp;V framework for embedded automotive software. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was performed by searching four digital libraries from 2011 to March 2022. Sixty-two papers were selected, which indicated that the automotive software V&amp;V process is usually based on the ISO 26262 standard and that the software development life cycle V-model is the most common test platform in the automotive domain. Automotive software for a specific domain has been developed to cover a wide variety of vehicles. Variables from specific regions or countries can influence the entire V&amp;V process for automotive software, such as differences in homologation requirements, infrastructure, driver behavior, customer desires, and electromagnetic force interference. The SLR identified specific characteristics of automotive software and regional factors that can affect the V&amp;V process, as well as significant considerations to ensure correct decision-making, resource allocation, and support of team members.

Verification Column

Automated theorem proving can be seen as a logic-based approach for generating mathematical proofs mechanically. Important applications are hardware and software verification, general-purpose proof assistants and proof checking. Most state-of-the-art theorem provers rely on proof calculi for higher-order logic that incorporate superposition techniques or satisfiability modulo theories. The article by Bentkamp, Blanchette, Nummelin, Tourret and Waldmann provides an overview of the recently developed λ-superposition approach. It takes inspirations of classical superposition for first-order logic and extends it for higher-order constructs. This new approach paves the way for a new generation of automated theorem provers for powerful logics, still being impressively efficient.

Algorithms and software for verification of scientific and technical text documents

The work provides a solution to the problem of verifying the design (formatting) of scientific and technical documents for compliance with the requirements of regulatory documents (the problem of document verification). The basis of the check is the analysis of the styles of the Word text editor, which are used to design the paragraphs of the document under study. For eachelement of the document (headings, annotations, main text, figures, signatures under figures, list of references and others) a reference style of their design was developed. Together, these styles form the set of allowed styles. There can be many sets of allowed styles, each edition has its own set of styles. Only the administrator has access to each of the sets, which can create new styles, new sets, and edit both individual styles and individual sets. Due to the peculiarities of style parsing, the document is treated as a combination of headers and footers and the body of the document. Algorithms for its verification were developed for this structure of the document: an algorithm for analyzing headers and footers, an algorithm for analyzing paragraphs of the main text, and an algorithm for updating style settings by the administrator. .Net, WPF, DocumentFormat.OpenXml technologies were used to implement the algorithms by software. Using DocumentFormat.OpenXml allows you to analyze styles in .doc/.docx format documents; the developed program accepts .doc or .docx format files as input and analyzes them for compliance with specified styles. The result of the analysis is returned in .txt or .doc/.docx format, indicating the detected deviations from the standards. The .txt format file is a list of found deviations, and in the .doc/.docx format files, the deviations are recorded in the form of comments to the original text. Using the program simplifies the process of checking documents, it allows you to identify all deviations from standards and reduce the time and resources spent on checking. .Net and WPF technologies were used to develop the user interface. The developed program was checked in the process of checking the explanatory notes of real bachelor's and master's qualification theses. The style analysis time was determined; the time does not exceed 3 seconds. The developed program can be useful for automating the process of checking documents, ensuring quality and compliance with the design standards of scientific and technical documentation, scientific and technical publications, and, first of all, in the educational process for checking the design of bachelor's and master's qualification works, as well as various reports.

Software Safety Assurance in Non-airborne GPS-based Landing Aids

This paper investigates the software standard DO-278A from the RTCA according to assurance level 3 to provide a concept for approving software of ground-based navigation aids. For this purpose, related literature and standards were reviewed and evaluated for their applicability for proposing such a concept. The resulting approval concept shows our approach for conducting the development process according to DO-278A based on a traditional one and focusing on an activity schedule. Therefore, the paper offers preliminary considerations at first to show the relation between system and software development. In addition, corresponding standards that are related to the development are presented as well. The concept is segmented in three main phases for software planning, realization, and verification, which are subdivided and scheduled in specific activities. Each activity consists of an outline describing the contents expected by DO-278A and our approach to organizing them. This paper shows our conceptional approach to obtain an approval for software according to DO-278A. This concept is prepared to approve a radio navigation aid.

GUI-Based Data Visualisation Tool for Option C IPMVP using Jupyter Notebook

IPMVP is an acronym for International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol, used for calculating energy savings by taking some external factors into account to give an equal base for a linear comparison between two periods. However, determining the significant independent variable for routine adjustment causes inconvenient repeated action of regression analysis modeling, which leads to the exhaustive calculation and human error risk. These exasperating actions led to the creation of this project, which aims to provide a user-friendly, insightful, and accurate energy-saving calculation program tool. Thus, the main objective of this project is to develop an energy-saving computational tool for option C IPMVP using web-based data analytic tools to improve efficiency and accuracy in each project. This paper used a web-based mathematical computation, Jupyter Notebook, to determine the significant independent variable for routine adjustment of the adjusted baseline. The program tool was validated using V-model software verification and validation methodology based on IEEE 1012 standards. The study can be concluded that the exhaustive calculation to determine the energy saving based on IPMVP standards can be significantly reduced with precision values at 50%, 80%, 90%, and 95% confidence levels using the proposed program which is equipped with insightful graphs and a user-friendly interface.

A failed proof can yield a useful test

AbstractA successful automated program proof is, in software verification, the ultimate triumph. In practice, however, the road to such success is paved with many failed proof attempts. Unlike a failed test, which provides concrete evidence of an actual bug in the program, a failed proof leaves the programmer in the dark. Can we instead learn something useful from it? The work reported here takes advantage of the rich information that some automatic provers internally collect about the program when attempting a proof. If the proof fails, the Proof2Test tool presented in this article uses the counterexample generated by the prover (specifically, the SMT solver underlying the Boogie tool used in the AutoProof system to perform correctness proofs of contract‐equipped Eiffel programs) to produce a failed test, which provides the programmer with immediately exploitable information to correct the program. The discussion presents Proof2Test and the application of the ideas and tool to a collection of representative examples.